More like this
Deutsche Telekom in T-Mobile sell-off talks
The German telecoms group is in negotiations with leading market players over the sale of its underperforming mobile phone arm
Deutsche Telekom is in talks with Vodafone, France Telecom and Spain's Telefonica about a possible sale of T-Mobile, according to the Financial Times. Early-stage negotiations between the interested parties are underway, with a "three-horse race" said to be a possibility at this stage. There is speculation that €4bn could be raised by the sale of Deutsche's poorly-performing mobile phone unit.
As long ago as this spring the German company decided to offload its UK mobile arm, after a long history of poor profitability leading to profit warnings at its German parent. At present it has a market share of 14.9 per cent in Britain, according to figures from Enders Analysis, while O2, owned by Telefonica, is the leader with 27.7 per cent of the market, followed by Vodafone with 24.7 per cent and France Telecom's Orange with 21.5 per cent.
It is thought by some close to the deal that the talks could yield results by the middle of October, although officially Deutsche Telecom would make no comment. JPMorgan, which Deutsche hired to advise it on its options in the summer, also declined to make a comment on the talks, but one option thought to be on the table is a merger of T-Mobile with Orange. In case of the negotations failing to yield a buyer, T-Mobile's new management is tasked with improving its outlook and aims to move up thew unit to third place in the rankings. ·
